Plan A Plan B is rather disappointing. Tamanah looks strained so does Riteish. What is wrong is perhaps the cliche’ but more than that the story telling.
You just about manage to sit through the movie, sometimes you think how disastrous it could have to been to step out and watch it in theatre… watching it at home is a lesser pain…
Still…if you are interested, it’s ok, Tamanah looks pretty!
We search for heroes, role models to look up to and revere and hope that some of that sheen will rub on us. If I told you I had such kind of extraordinary human beings at my own home you would be surprised, perhaps shocked even. But that is the story of my parents, the man and the woman you see to the left of this image.
A couple, life tested and tried many times over, but those that stood up with a smile, until life joined the party and smiled along. In fact, today my mother has many friends, those that admire and look up to her for her grit and determination not to be pulled down by the society, those who may or may not like her but have to grudgingly admit her irrepressible enthusiasm, resilience and tenacity. Something in her makes her the protective ma durga and she tells me’ It is important to live on, despite whatever happened.I just want to see a big smile on my husband’s face. Besides, you know it is good to travel.’ She adds with a chuckle!
Luckily, her spark is seen and known and those who know want to join and tag along. I have always known my mother as a fighter, a never give up person, who in the worst of times asked me to dry the tears and sport the smile. In fact, this is what helped me to deal with adversities that came my way, yes, our way, for my parents stood by me always and cheered me on… in my quest for higher education, in my desire to be a writer, every time, I have to just look at my mother’s face and know that ‘ it is possible, anything really is possible’.
Life is an adventure, live it fully!!!
MT Vasudevan Nair will always be counted to be amongst the best of Malayalam writers. This film is a cinematic adaptation of one of his stories, how beautifully the writer brings in imagination to fill in the gaps of love and companionship of a young girl. Janutty’s best friends are probably figments of her imagination fueled by the lively engaging story telling of her grand mother. But what I liked is also the way the family dealt with this wandering mind, allowing her only friend to step in and treating her with care.
The borderline between being sane and insane is rather thin. If only the society had more patience to deal with those who are different!
To get a glimpse into the life in rural Kerala, and to enjoy some of the best in acting, you should watch this film freely available on youtube! No subtitles, though!
I watched Subira’s magical bond with water in awe. I remembered how I was told that my spirit animal is a water buffalo and it seemed quite right to me, because often have the waters called me to their depths, inviting me to immerse myself quietly deeply.
Particularly though my visit to a river recently and the quiet one hour I spent in the water immersed and at peace, feeling as if my very being was being cleansed of accumulated dirt of years of misplaced guilt, misunderstood, unappreciated self seemed to be cleansed by the flowing water and her quiet grace, the blue sky looking on and the dancing bamboo listening in .
Subira’s story is the story of every woman who tries to assert herself, and discover and embrace parts of her personality that help her stay is a state of joy.
As simple as it looks, this is probably the most arduous, the most audacious of activities a young married woman could embark upon, yet, when Subira does it and is eventually accepted and even celebrated for her courage, a ray of hope rises in your heart….
We all know how this cannot be the end, the mere act of swimming is a life time achievement for Subira, it is true for so many of women out there and this has to change!
Own your bliss
“He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a Jew.” “By my soul I swear There is no power in the tongue of man To alter me.”– Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare
“If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”. – (Act III, scene I)
If you ever read Merchant of Venice, you can’t help admiring Shylock, that majestic Jew, whose words, or shall we say ‘punch lines’ pierce you to the core… and you accept a grudging admiration to a character and a people so wronged by history, even when you know at the core of your heart, that well, something’s ‘rotten’ about the laser focus on revenge that Shylock nurtures.
But it is the film that impressed me to see Mamootty’s magic was a treat to the soul. He plays the goonda, that feudal side kick devoted to serve his master at any cost pretty well, entire film therefore is a carnage of littered bodies, broken noses, flying pieces of tree trunks!, furniture and some peculiar looking weaponry, but overall Shylock is a good watch.
I had the best of the news and worst of the news the same day. I cried more at the worst, wondering at the injustice of it all, hurt that such pain should come to someone so young, so bright, so deserving of only love and appreciation, yet this, and then as the heart is wont to do, it runs down the black alleys of dark memories that cause you to shudder and remind yourself to be grateful of where you are, how you are.
Then I think of ‘Shantaram’ of Linbaba and his eventful life, of a man who turned the worst of crimes into a light beyond all of us. Gregory David Roberts transformed himself from being the most wanted criminal to become the author of one of most loved stories in human history.
Hopefully the netflix series Shantaram is gonna be as captivating as the book!
I don’t know if Hollywood is going the Bollywood way or is it the other way round….perhaps it is all the same… stories that are told.( Well! its a 2006 movie!)
I must say I liked the mushy romance of Catch and Release….Jennifer Garner is a gem, she really is…whether in 13 going on 30 or that brilliantly made movie, Catch me if you can…I guess one could be charmed endlessly by her smile and her ways.
The western stereotype of the tantric seekers and their sly crafty ways is annoying though!
Life is a bonus now, yes, at least two generations ago, living till 60 was good enough, 40 was the final climb down of active living, times have changed since then and new opportunities to age gracefully and actively are now available.
But the fact still remains that one can simply be happy about life itself, the opportunity to breathe, the chances to work, earn, love, understand and be understood then should be a boon, more than a boon, the divine ‘manna’ itself!
When I make friends today, have great experiences, experience kindness, feel impressed or receive or be able to give compliments, I know for sure that it is a gift, a token of gratitude has to now raise of my heart and a general sense of happiness has to envelope me, because you see, life is a bonus, any chance to experience it is a rare gift, and it indeed is.
So, well! relax, breathe well, stay happy, embrace life, love, friendship, adventure, learning, observations and anything that raises the quality of living because remember life is a bonus, living, a gift from god himself, so stay humble, express gratitude for the very breath of life.
In such a state of extended stay, would there be any need to break down at human excesses, inhuman stupidities, indifferences arising out of ignorance, so called high handedness, unwanted expressions of ‘love’, ‘sympathy’, ‘material promises’ and other immaterial stuff, generally not so genuine, because mind you, to show real care, all it takes to be available to talk and listen, isn’t it???? and how rare is that really, hmmmm…. but yes, the question is , do we need to break our heart, head, and go mindlessly insane over others’ insanities, no, there really is no need to do that, to lose your sense over the insensitivity of others, so what is left then but to observe life nonchalantly, cruise through joys and sorrows alike, and enjoy the ringside view of living.
Cheers to gratitude, that which grounds the soul and helps the heart to grow in compassion to self and others.
I walk rather fast when I am feeling great, and was rushing to my work place, when I notice a rather lean tall lady in front of me, intrigued and deeply interested to know who this is, I pace up and reach to her.
‘Hi’, I say loving the feel of trusting an intuition and already getting the vibe of a new friendship blooming, ‘I am Sreelekha’, ‘Hi, I am Padmavathi’, she said.
‘Woh! to meet Padmavathi, the Rajputana Queen on an otherwise uninteresting Monday morning is what I really wanted!’
She laughed, so did I and well! we are great buddies now!
Ain’t that beautiful!
Intuitions have always helped me! Mostly! I correct myself.
PS: Book to read, Blink
Working on a Saturday is not one’s of my deepest desires, but a compulsion which you succumb to after much hesitation, especially when your throat is aching badly and when 3/4 th of your colleagues are off duty, only because the fear of a pay cut looms large!
So, I walked to the car pool stop, dragging my feet like a kid, remembering lines from The Seven Ages of ‘As You Like It’, the school boy dragging his feet like a snail or something to this effect, I was still mid way, looking for a pebble or two to brighten me up when a scooter stopped nearby.
The lady asked, ‘Can I drop you to the bus stop?’. I said, Why? I mean!!!
She said, ‘You are not well?’
‘I have fever,’ I said.
‘Take leave’, she said.
‘Have to go, no leave’ , I said.
‘Come, let me drop you’!
I looked askance, but gratefully accepted the offer, wondering at this sudden munificence from heavens.
‘Your name?’
‘Priyanka’, she replied.
‘You stay in the same apartment’, I asked.
‘Yes, ‘ She turned and rode off as I was left basking in the glow of a good deed that came my way on a rather tired morning.
Walking in and out of my apartment, I have been hesitant to make friends, perhaps this was a sign to change that!
What Signs! Eh! I asked the universe.
And there was silence.
Ps: Thank universe for small joys of living
Adhyapika 